Mumbai: Mumbaikars will not have to wait longer for a glimpse of Royal Bengal Tigers Shakti, 3, and Karishma, 5, now at the Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Udyan (Byculla zoo). BMC on Thursday cleared a proposal for the landscaping of the enclosure where the big cats will live.
The zoo has not had a tiger since 2006, till authorities procured a pair earlier in Feb, from Siddharth Zoo, Aurangabad, under an exchange programme. Presently, the felines under surveillance at the zoo’s quarantine facility.
The landscaping of the 3,500 sqm expanse will cost nearly Rs1 crore and will seek to recreate the indigenous habitat of the forest, complete with bamboo, neem trees and other prairie flora.
The enclosure will have an artificial cave and a ‘waterfall’. “The enclosure will be so to make animals feel at home and give viewers a natural feeling,” said Dr Sanjay Tripathi, director of the zoo.
The work will be begun this week and is likely to be completed by March, he said. Dr Tripathi said, the authorities hoped to move the tigers in before April.
“In April-May every year, we witness high footfall. We hope to finish the construction by March, so we can move tigers in enclosures before April.”
Earlier in Jan, the zoo featured six new exhibits, showcasing exotic animals which had been procured over the last one year. The zoo has been in the process of revamped since March 2017, with BMC spending Rs56 crore to build the six enclosures housing leopards, jackals, hyenas, sloth beers and a walk-in aviary, housing exotic birds.
The director said, the administration wanted to bring lions under the exchange programme, from Sakkarbaug zoo and the financial bid for the process has been opened
